Prevalence of obesity in the Saudi population.

Obesity, i.e., excessive deposition of fat in the body, is the most common nutritional disorder in the developed countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population of Saudi Arabia living in different regions of the country. A total of 14,660 adult Saudi males and females (>14 years of age) in 35 areas were screened and information on height (m) and weight (kg) was recorded during a National Project to study various aspects of diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia. The Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated and the data was used to group the males and females as overweight (BMI=25-29.9) and obese (BMI>30). In the total Saudi population the prevalence of overweight was 27.23% and 25.20% in the males and females respectively, while the prevalence of obesity was 13.05% and 20.26% in the males and females respectively. When separated on the basis of each region, the prevalence of obesity was highest in the females in Central Province and in the males in the Western Province, while overweight was more prevalent in both the male and female population of the Central Province. The data was further analyzed depending on each area within each province and significant differences were encountered. In general, overweight was more common in the males and obesity in the females. This high prevalence of obesity is a cause for concern, since obesity is associated with several complications which increase both morbidity and mortality. Awareness programs must be initiated and nationwide control and prevention programs need to be adopted to decrease the prevalence of obesity in the Saudi population.